Stocks in Toronto traded higher Tuesday morning led by strength in gold and pot stocks.
The TSX Composite index gained 31.45 points to trade at 20,264.53.
The healthcare sector was ahead, fueled by a 13% rise in shares of OrganiGram after the pot producer reported a jump in quarterly net revenue.
Organigram Holdings Inc. reported a loss of $4 million in its latest quarter compared with a loss of $89.9 million in the same quarter a year earlier. The loss amounted to 1.4 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended May 31 compared with a loss of 51.2 cents per diluted share a year earlier when it had fewer shares outstanding.
Net revenue in what was the company’s third quarter grew to $20.3 million, up from $18.0 million in the same quarter last year.
The Canada Life Assurance Co. has signed a deal to buy ClaimSecure Inc., a company that provides health and dental claim management services.
The Canadian dollar slipped 0.48 cents to 79.79 cents U.S.
August gold rose $9, or 0.5%, at $1,814.90 an ounce Tuesday, after declining 0.3% on Monday.
West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery was up 7 cents, or less than 0.1%, at $74.15 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. September Brent crude, the global benchmark, gained 23 cents, or 0.3%, to $75.39 a barrel.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange inched up 2.44 points to 941.17.
Seven of the 12 TSX subgroups gained ground during the morning session, with gold stocks higher by 2.30%, while health care issues edged up 2.11% and materials rose 1.45%.
On the downside — energy issues shed 0.69%, real estate stocks dipped 0.49% and financial issues gave back 0.35%.
ON WALLSTREET
Stocks in the U.S were mixed Tuesday after consumer inflation in June rose unexpectedly and earnings season kicked off with reports from JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs.
The Dow Jones Industrial average shed about 58 points, or 0.17%. The S&P 500 traded near the flatline.
The Nasdaq Composite gained about 0.3% and hit another intraday record.
JPMorgan posted much stronger-than-expected second-quarter earnings, thanks in part to the release of $3 billion in provisions set aside for bad loans and a big jump in investment banking revenue.
Goldman Sachs Group (GS) posted stronger-than-expected second quarter earnings Tuesday thanks to a surge in asset management and investment banking revenues. Goldman said earnings for the three months ending in June were pegged at $15.02 per share, nearly 140% higher than last year’s tally and firmly ahead of the Street consensus forecast of $10.24 per share. Group revenues, Goldman said, rose 16% to $15.4 billion, the second highest on record that again beat analysts’ forecasts of a $12.1 billion total.
The consumer price index, the nation’s key inflation measure, jumped 0.9% in June, the largest one-month increase in 13 years. Over the last 12 months, prices were up 5.4%, the biggest jump in annual inflation in nearly 13 years.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury dipped Tuesday to 1.351%.